[mikeracn]

Every time I take a picture with my Incredible in the dark using the flash, the faces of my subjects come out extremely washed out. It seems like the flash is too bright. I tried to tape over one of the two flashes with electrical tape, thinking that only one of the LEDs would not wash out faces. Unfortunately, that did not seem to fix the problem at all. Do you experience this problem? Have you been able to correct it? Can it be corrected with software? I am willing to mod hardware.

[jaybalagna]

It's a direct flash from a cell phone camera, man. I really don' think there's a way to keep faces from looking washed out if you're taking pictures in the dark. That said, have you tried playing with the exposure option in the camera settings at all?

[Rem]

Reducing camera flash intensity

Maybe give this a try?

[rpfarrah]

Reducing camera flash intensity

Maybe give this a try?

Nice catch and good suggestion.

[mikeracn]

Reducing camera flash intensity

Maybe give this a try?

After using two pieces of similar tape, it works perfectly! The flash exposes looks just like my digital camera.

[TJH132]

While this "hardware" hack does seem to work, a proper software fix should be doable. If cell phone flashes are anything like a modern digital camera flash, then it sends out a quick flash just prior to the main one for the purpose of measuring its intensity. Then the camera app can adjust either the brightness of the flash or the shutter speed/aperture accordingly to make better images. This is called TTL or Through The Lens metering.

For the time being, I'll stick to the medical tape!

TJH

[swimrage]

or....
take a few steps back and zoom in with the camera
viola diffused light